Recently, regulation on waste liquids exhausted from the processing laboratory of photographic light-sensitive material become serious for protecting the earth environment. Accordingly, in the field of photographic industry, a great deal of effort was put into reduction of the amount of waste liquid to a limiting amount. Reduction of the waste liquid by reducing the replenishing amount of a processing solution is strongly demanded also in the field of graphic arts, and various methods for attaining such the object have been investigated.
A silver halide photographic light-sensitive material for graphic arts use, hereinafter referred to a light-sensitive material, is usually treated by processes of development, fixing and washing or stabilizing, after imagewise exposed. The developer is usually a alkaline solution containing a dihydroxybenzene such as hydroquinone as a developing agent, a aminophenol compound or a 3-pyrazolidone compound as an assistant developing agent and a sulfite as a preservant. Such the developer has a high pH value such as 10.3 or more for satisfying the requirements of forming extreme high contrast image and suitability for rapid processing. Therefore, it is actual situation that the developer is not always stable since the developer is easily degraded by oxidation, and the stability of the developer is not satisfactory to resist to reducing the replenishing amount.
In the light-sensitive material for graphic arts use, photographic technology for forming an extreme high contrast image is required since an image constituted by dots is used in the graphic arts. As such the technique, a light-sensitive material containing a hydrazine compound described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,929 has been known. However, the extreme high contrast image cannot be reproduced in such the light-sensitive when a stable developer having a lowered pH value is used to reduce the replenishing amount of the developer.
A method using a quaternary onium compound such as a pyridinium salt described in Japanese Patent Publication Open for Public Inspection (JP O.P.I.) No. 6-102633 has been known as a technique to form the extreme high contrast image by a developer having a pH value of less than 10.0. An idea of optimizing the image reproduction and reduction of the replenishing amount by the use of a hydrazine derivative and a quaternary onium compound in combination has also been known, which is described in JP O.P.I. No. 8-44005.
However, fluctuation of the photographic properties is caused in the course of a running of processing of the light-sensitive material containing the quaternary onium compound when the processing is performed by using a developer having a pH value of not more than 10. Particularly, problems of color remaining after processing and degradation of storage ability of the image are found. For example, the remained color is intensified and the image density is lowered when the light-sensitive material is stood under a high humid and high temperature condition. The fluctuation of the photographic properties is further increased when the processing time is shortened.